Kadavu Accomodations & Dining - Fiji Guide

I’ve heard nothing but good things about Matava, a resort popular with divers, located just off the Astrolabe Reef. With capacity to handle only 22 guests Matava offers an intimate setting.

Full article here: Kadavu Accomodations & Dining - Fiji Guide

LOVE MATAVA - Can't wait to return! - Review of Matava - Fiji's Premier Eco Adventure Resort, Kadavu Island, Fiji - TripAdvisor

LOVE MATAVA - Can't wait to return! - Review of Matava - Fiji's Premier Eco Adventure Resort, Kadavu Island, Fiji - TripAdvisor

I was looking for a dive trip to the western Pacific and did a lot of internet searching, Tripadvisor searching and talking to people. After much research, I decided on Matava, both at the suggestion of South Seas Adventures (a travel agency I highly recommend) and from the internet info. I was not disappointed. I am a biologist with a keen interest in outdoor activities that have some learning component, such as diving, bird watching, bicycling, hiking, etc. I was traveling solo so I didn't want to end up in a typical tropical resort situation with lots of newly weds only, lots of folks mostly interested in sunning by a pool and sipping expensive drinks and so on. There are places for that, but that's not what I wanted. Matava EXCEEDED all of my expectations.

It does take some effort to get there; it took fully 26 hours from start to finish from California. The overseas flight is only 10 hours, but the various other transfers take time. Still, for some reason, I had no jet lag, either direction. The final leg of the trip is a marvelous boat ride from the airport at Vunisea, Kadavu to Matava. This offered me the first view of that incredible blue and blue-green water, wow.

Matava is a small eco-friendly resort on the eastern (SE) part of Kadavu, perfectly located for easy access to the world-renowned Astrolabe Reef. The grounds and bures are simple and clean and perfectly comfortable. They have everything I needed for a great stay including excellent beds with mosquito netting, great pillows and hot showers. There is some electricity, augmented with gas lanterns. There is however ample electricity to recharge your batteries, laptop, etc.. The staff are incredible at Matava. They really go the extra mile to make you feel welcome and relaxed; I can't say enough about everyone that works there. A particular thank you to Maggie, Lou, Jen, Drex, Tay and I know I'm forgetting people, so please forgive me if you read this! I also enjoyed talking to Richard, one of the owners, as he is an amateur fish taxonomist and helped me out with some of the various fish intricacies I ran across. The resort has a fairly extensive field guide collection too, so you may not need to bring your own.

I have an Advanced Open Water dive card, but hadn't dived in over 10 years; I did take a refresher course at a local dive shop 2 weeks before the trip. Still, I was rusty to say the least and our divemaster was extremely patient and accomodating to my needs; a big thank you to Lou for that! The dive shop carries equipment for rent which is all in very good condition. You might bring your own dive computer though as those are not for rent (at Matava nor in the local dive shops so far as I could tell).

It was March, Fiji summer, and I brought a 3mm wetsuit, booties and mask and snorkel. I rented the rest and that worked fine. I would bring additional neoprene such as a hooded vest to go under the wetsuit as I did get a little cold on the 2nd dive each day (water temp was about 81 deg F, a little cooler than normal possibly due to El Nino). The divemaster was kind enough to loan me her vest and I was comfortable in the water after that.

Now, the best part: the diving is spectacular! I have dived in the Cayman Islands, Hawaii, off California and in Baja and had always wanted to dive the western Pacific. I knew this ecosystem was the richest in the world but you really have to see this in person to know what that means. The coral diversity is amazing - hard corals galore, amazing leather corals and lots of softies as well. The Dendronepthya (carnation corals) are unbelievable in color and abundance. I was really stunned. Our divemaster knew the sites aboslutely cold as she has several years of experience diving this area, so she was able to show us big things, small things and all things in between. She found lots of great nudibranchs, flatworms, small fish, and so forth in addition to the sharks and mantas everyone hopes to see (me included, and we did too). I can't say enough about the quality of the diving and the leardership of the staff. It seemed like every dive was the "best I'd ever had."

The resort is very remote with no roads whatsoever - only boat access. There are no town lights to ruin the sky and the stars are as you'd expect, incredible. Are there other things to do aside from diving and star gazing? There are, but diving was my main goal. There is world-class fishing to be had and I was happy some fishermen were there while I was as it meant some great fresh fish on the table at night! One can snorkel right from the resort into a mix of seagrass beds and hard coral formations mixed with rubble fields further out. Lots of habitats to explore and creatures to view there. There are also a few hikes, both up the hill behind the resort and to local villages nearby, which are very interesting. There is a nice waterfall in the closest village from which many of the staff come as well. There are some endemic birds, though they can be alittle shy and hard to see. The Kadavu parrot, kingfisher and honeyeater were the easiest to see for me. My trip included a kava ceremony which was very low key and interesting. I hadn't had kava before and found it very relaxing and in the low dose I tried, not negative in any way. Very nice.

You may be wondering about the food: in a word, GREAT! Fresh fish, organic vegetables and fruits every day and home made bread. All that diving makes you hungry and the food is plentiful (they keep bringing plates of it until you say stop), varied and delicious. I may bring my own french press and coffee next time though as there is only instant coffee (personal thing, not a big deal).

In short, I cannot wait to go back to Matava. If you are seeking a small resort which caters to divers and fisherfolk and can live without the, imho, overbearing luxuries and attitude sometimes found in other resorts, Matava is for you.

LOVE MATAVA - Can't wait to return! - Review of Matava - Fiji's Premier Eco Adventure Resort, Kadavu Island, Fiji - TripAdvisor

Tropical Cyclone Tomas Gone

The weather today is....... Glorious..

Tropical Cyclone Tomas Gone

Fiji Bird Watching

Below you'll find some fun and exciting Fiji Bird Watching. With our Fiji tourist guide you can find tourist information and fun things to do on vacation while browsing the Fiji tourist sites by category or location. Use the side links to find more Fiji Bird Watching, vacation information, hotels, hot travel deals, and restaurants for your Fiji travel.

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Fiji Bird Watching

FIJI PETREL! Awesome shot!

Pelagic Birds of Jörg

FIJI PETREL! Awesome shot!

Pelagic Birds of Jörg - Fiji Bird Watching - Everything to do with birdwatching & birding in Fiji - Fiji Bird Watching - Everything to do with birdwatching & birding in Fiji

Best Trip Ever! - TripAdvisor

This place is awesome!

But before I rant about a the good stuff, a little about the bad. Matava is an eco resort, which means you give up a few luxuries, like AC or even fans so it gets a little hot even at night. Also you may see the occasional mouse or monstrous insect, or hear them in the walls every now and then. However all of this is more than compensated for by: a wonderful staff, beautiful location, great meals and lots to do. Now I rant!

The dive team at Matava is fantastic. They are consummate professionals who worry more about your safety than you do. My girlfriend and I are novice Open Water Divers and the staff really took care of us. We had a dive master swimming along side of us no more than a meter away for most of our dives. They are also really great people I genuinely liked as well. Also the dive boat is huge and has power to spare so it goes anywhere and the dives themselves are wonderful, and teaming with sea life.

We went on some great hikes, kayaked, snorkeled and stayed over night in a village (not to be missed), all of which was great. I did not fish while I was there but I heard it was great from the guests who did, and enjoyed eating their nightly catch.

The staff at the resort is amazingly friendly, including the owners who really go out of their way to give you the trip you want, they tried to arrange some surf for me but the swell and wind did not cooperate. If you want to do something, just ask, they will sort you out.

I really enjoyed the meals at Matava as well, its always fresh local fish and ingredients with daily themes like, Thai, Jamaican, Japanese, etc, nights. The meals are communal which I loved because you get to chat with other guests, owners, dive instructors, guides, etc.

In general I would highly recommend Matava to adventure seeking people who want to do stuff and interact with other people. This is not a sit back and sip umbrella drinks all day type of resort (although you can do that too it you really want). This is more of a wake up early, do amazing things all day, then go to sleep exhausted right after dinner sort of resort and if that is what you are looking for you are going to love Matava, especially divers and sport fishermen. It you are looking for luxury accommodation, and dont dive or fish, you probably wont love this report as much as I did.

Best Trip Ever! - Review of Matava - Fiji's Premier Eco Adventure Resort, Kadavu Island, Fiji - TripAdvisor

BBC - Earth News - 'Lost seabird' returns to ocean

Editor, Earth News

Up to eight Fiji petrels were seen over an 11-day period

One of the world's rarest and most elusive birds has finally been seen flying in its natural habitat.

The Fiji petrel, a seabird that once "went missing" for 130 years, has been sighted flying at sea, near the island of Gau in the Pacific Ocean.
The culmination of a meticulously planned bird hunt, Birdlife International researchers sighted the birds 25 nautical miles south of Gau.
Up to eight individuals were seen and photographed over 11 days.
The 30cm tall dark-brown Fiji petrel (Pseudobulweria macgillivrayi) is one of the most elusive of all birds.

To see such a little-known bird at such close range was magical Expedition member Mr Tony Pym

Originally, the species was known from just a single immature specimen, collected in 1855 on Gau Island, Fiji.
But then the bird "went missing" with no further confirmed sightings of it for almost 130 years.
Then in 1984, an adult was caught and photographed on Gau, then released.
Since then, there have been a handful of reports of "grounded" birds that had crashed onto village roofs on the island. Most were immature birds, of which a few died.
Due to the extremely limited number of sightings, the bird is also inferred to be one of the rarest of all bird species.
It is one of 192 bird species which are list as Critically Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
Stinky lure
But while there have been ten unconfirmed reports of the bird at sea, with the latest a possible Fiji Petrel sighted around 400km north of Bougainville Island, until now there has been no confirmed sightings.
That was until in May, when scientists and volunteers working with Birdlife International and NatureFiji-MareqetiViti, a partner conservation organisation based in Fiji, set out to find the bird in its natural habitat.
The search for the elusive petrel is described in a paper in the latest Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club.
The researchers lured the bird with a specially made food, made from finely cut fish offal mixed with very dense fish oil.

The Fiji petrel once "went missing" for 130 years

These were then frozen into 10kg blocks, which persist for over an hour in the water, creating a pungent oil slick which attracts petrels from some miles away.
On the second day of the expedition, the first Fiji Petrel appeared, approaching the chum slick from downwind, slowly zigzagging over the slick, and suddenly changing direction to drop onto a floating morsel.
In all, the expedition team believe they saw eight individuals over eleven days of observations.
"Finding this bird and capturing such images was a fantastic and exhilarating experience," says ornithologist Hadoram Shirihai, who lead the search team.
In 2008, Mr Shirihai also rediscovered the Critically Endangered Beck's Petrel (Pseudobulweria becki) a bird that was also only known from two sightings in the Pacific made in the 1920s.
"To see such a little-known bird at such close range was magical," added fellow expedition member Mr Tony Pym, describing his joy at seeing the Fiji petrel flying over the waves.
More surveys in 2010 are now planned to to locate the breeding area of the Fiji Petrel, says Dick Watling of NatureFiji-MareqetiViti.
"Once we know the location, we can assess what needs to be done to turn around the fortunes of this species," he says.

BBC - Earth News - 'Lost seabird' returns to ocean